Within the field of cryptography, it is well recognized that the strength of any cryptographic system depends, among other things, on the key distribution technique employed. For conventional encryption to be effective, such as a symmetric key system, two communicating parties must share the same key and that key must be protected from access by others. The key must, therefore, be distributed to each of the parties. For a party, Bob, to decrypt ciphertext encrypted by a party, Alice, Alice or a third party must distribute a copy of the key to Bob. This distribution process can be implemented in a number of conventional ways including the following: 1) Alice can select a key and physically deliver the key to Bob; 2) A third party can select a key and physically deliver the key to Alice and Bob; 3) If Alice and Bob both have an encrypted connection to a third party, the third party can deliver a key on the encrypted links to Alice and Bob; 4) If Alice and Bob have previously used an old key, Alice can transmit a new key to Bob by encrypting the new key with the old; or 5) Alice and Bob may agree on a shared key via a one-way mathematical algorithm, such Diffie-Helman key agreement.
All of these distribution methods are vulnerable to interception of the distributed key by an eavesdropper Eve, or by Eve “cracking” the supposedly one-way algorithm. Eve can eavesdrop and intercept or copy a distributed key and then subsequently decrypt any intercepted ciphertext that is sent between Bob and Alice. In existing cryptographic systems, this eavesdropping may go undetected, with the result being that any ciphertext sent between Bob and Alice is compromised.
To combat these inherent deficiencies in the key distribution process, researchers have developed a key distribution technique called quantum cryptography. Quantum cryptography employs quantum systems and applicable fundamental principles of physics to ensure the security of distributed keys. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle mandates that any attempt to observe the state of a quantum system will necessarily induce a change in the state of the quantum system. Thus, when very low levels of matter or energy, such as individual photons, are used to distribute keys, the techniques of quantum cryptography permit the key distributor and receiver to determine whether any eavesdropping has occurred during the key distribution. Quantum cryptography, therefore, prevents an eavesdropper, like Eve, from copying or intercepting a key that has been distributed from Alice to Bob without a significant probability of Bob's or Alice's discovery of the eavesdropping.